Yesterday’s announcement that WA’s Auditor General, Caroline Spencer would be conducting a probe into the Government’s asset sales is welcomed by the Opposition after a series of asset sales under the McGowan Government.
As reported by Business News, the Auditor General said she will investigate a decade’s worth of Government asset sales, including several high-profile sales as well as looking at the timing of transactions to ensure there has been no wrongdoing.
WA Liberal Leader Dr David Honey said Western Australian’s deserved to know whether the State Government are making decisions in the best interests of the Western Australian public with these asset deals.
“We have seen numerous sales in the last few years, most recently the sale of the Landgate buildings and land in Midland.
“An analysis of this deal indicates that the Western Australian public have lost tens of millions of dollars without any proper explanation from Minister Saffioti.
“We need complete transparency from the Government on these deals.
“The Labor Government are obsessively secretive about the deals that they are making over the disposal of major publicly owned assets. We need much more transparency so that the public can be assured that they are receiving the best possible outcome from the transactions,” said Dr Honey.
Shadow Minister for Lands, the Hon Neil Thomson MLC said the probe is a much-needed boost to transparency from a secretive Government.
“We’ve seen too many deals done behind closed doors and the appropriate levels of contestability in the market.
“I applaud the Auditor General for undertaking this probe and hope it is done with the thoroughness it deserves.
“I look forward to the results of the probe so we can ensure integrity in processes and taxpayers have received the best value for money outcomes on land and building sales,” said Mr Thomson.
